In the previous five competitive primaries ... each party had at least two candidates whose net favorability ratings were in the positive double digits. All five times, also, the nominee came from among one of the candidates in this group. Republicans have no such candidates at this point in time.

Meanwhile, the Republicans have two candidates in Ms. Palin and Mr. Gingirch whose net favorability ratings are actually in the double-digit negatives, something which since 2000 had only been true of Pat Buchanan and Al Sharpton.

I'm starting to think that Huckabee is not running, and if he does it's going to be a very lazy campaign. At this point I would say Pawlenty, Romney, or Thune. Barbour or Santorum are going to be the movement picks.

Santorum and his wife, Karen Garver Santorum, have seven children: Elizabeth Anne (born 1991); Richard John ("Johnny"), Jr. (born 1993); Daniel James (born 1995); Sarah Maria (born 1998); Peter Kenneth (born 1999); Patrick Francis (born 2001); and Isabella "Bella" Maria (born 2008). Bella was subsequently diagnosed with Trisomy 18, a serious genetic disorder which is fatal before birth in 90 per cent of cases.[10] In 1996, their son Gabriel Michael was born prematurely and lived for only two hours (a sonogram taken before Gabriel was born revealed that his posterior urethral valve was closed and that the prognosis for his survival was therefore poor).

Karen Santorum wrote a book about the experience: Letters to Gabriel: The True Story of Gabriel Michael Santorum.[11] In it, she writes that the couple brought the deceased infant home from the hospital and introduced the dead child to their living children as "your brother Gabriel" and slept with the body overnight before returning it to the hospital. The anecdote was also written about by Michael Sokolove in a 2005 New York Times Magazine story on Santorum.[1] Karen is also the author of a book on etiquette for children.[12]

It occurs to me that his daughter is probably weeping so hard in that picture because he spent her whole life to that point telling her that homosexuals will obliterate the country if he ever loses an election.

Santorum and his wife, Karen Garver Santorum, have seven children: Elizabeth Anne (born 1991); Richard John ("Johnny"), Jr. (born 1993); Daniel James (born 1995); Sarah Maria (born 1998); Peter Kenneth (born 1999); Patrick Francis (born 2001); and Isabella "Bella" Maria (born 2008). Bella was subsequently diagnosed with Trisomy 18, a serious genetic disorder which is fatal before birth in 90 per cent of cases.[10] In 1996, their son Gabriel Michael was born prematurely and lived for only two hours (a sonogram taken before Gabriel was born revealed that his posterior urethral valve was closed and that the prognosis for his survival was therefore poor).

Karen Santorum wrote a book about the experience: Letters to Gabriel: The True Story of Gabriel Michael Santorum.[11] In it, she writes that the couple brought the deceased infant home from the hospital and introduced the dead child to their living children as "your brother Gabriel" and slept with the body overnight before returning it to the hospital. The anecdote was also written about by Michael Sokolove in a 2005 New York Times Magazine story on Santorum.[1] Karen is also the author of a book on etiquette for children.[12]

I believe that by next year's first primaries attention will shift from unelectable candidates with baggage to more serious contenders, Pawlenty, Thune, Daniels. I don't know anything about Thune, it seems like he lacks any sort of clout with the GOP on a National level. I think it will be between Pawlenty and Daniels (if Daniels runs). Both are more serious about beating Obama than candidates like Palin or Santorum. Barring a problem in a continued moderate recovery or a terrorist attack, I don't see any reason why they would be elected - Daniels was Bush's budget director. Even if this wasn't the case, I think Obama defending HCR on his own terms during debates will convince most moderates, and none of these Republican candidates are willing to stand up to their wacko base and let the tax cut extension for the wealthy expire. It will just be an indefensible position for most people, after the budget cuts of the next two years.

Hal Jordan wrote:this guy is really nuts. he thinks "leftists" are out to destroy America. A lot of people agree with him.

From his thread "The Fundamental Psychology of the Left"

Ask yourself if you have EVER met a conservative who was not someone that met their deceased sibling.

Look, the root of the word Conservatism is the word CONSERVE. Conservatives wish to CONSERVE their siblings in jars, and I guess also traditions & ideals that make the USA the indispensable nation. Conservatives tend to be traditionalists, they love and respect the rhythms of traditional American life and their deceased jarred siblings...

Leftists recoil from such things. It's instinctive to their fundamental destructive nature. Leftism is about DESTRUCTION, it's about toppling the established order, it's about blowing shit up ! It's about getting REVENGE against Dad or the High School Quarterback that got all the best-looking girls or that girl who wouldn't talk to them in 8th grade or the guy that threw out their dead sibling instead of introducing them. This is why Leftists are ALWAYS on the OFFENSIVE and Conservatives are always defending American traditions, principles and ideals and their dead siblings. They are bitter , failed people with SERIOUS psychological issues. They have organized themselves around the principle that they have a right to take your shit, what more evidence do you need?

It is completely natural for a Leftist to ruin a good man with charges of racism. it is completely natural for leftists to extend the charge to The Tea Party. It is completely natural for Leftists to then call them murderers. They are not restrained by any traditional interpretation of personal honor. It's quite an advantage, to view Man as God,themselves as Noble beings, their opponents as needing to be saved (by them of course) and observing no objective truth. They are RAGING against a world that has fundamentally wronged them, and politics are their last hope to right the wrongs the world has heaped upon them.

In the end, stripped of all the noble fairy tales, all The Left has is RAGE and personal FAILURE.

Here's Haley Barbour explaining that he's not going to denounce a plan by some fellow Mississippians to issue a state license plate honoring KKK founder Nathan Bedford Forrest:

Mississippi NAACP president Derrick Johnson said it's "absurd" to honor a "racially divisive figure" such as Forrest. Johnson has also called on Barbour to denounce the license plate idea.

Asked about the NAACP's stance Tuesday, Barbour replied: "I don't go around denouncing people. That's not going to happen. I don't even denounce the news media."

I love that formulation -- I don't even denounce the news media. You'd think your ultimate proof of a policy of non-denunciation would be, you know, the Klan. As in: I won't even denounce the KKK, so why should I denounce the media? But for Barbour it's the other way around.